Solaris watched as Selen walked over to him with a smile on her beautiful face. As she grew closer, Solaris was captivated by a feeling of lust for the girl; he had no idea why. Previously, he believed she was cute, yet now at this moment, those feelings were overriding every other feeling, pushing his body into a trance.
As he examined the girl as she grew closer, his eyes slid from her face to her chest and landed on her arm.
That's when he saw it.
a sight that destroyed all sense of lust and twisted his mind into a state of fear and terror.
on her wrist, where she usually wore a bracelet just above the claw mark tattoo.
She had told him on a previous Monday that the bracelet never left her wrist as it was given to her by the man who saved her, yet at this very moment, the piece of jewelry was nowhere to be found.
Straining his memory to the brink of pain, he began to recall the last three months; he recalled every day, every second that he could before finally he realized something.
Every Tuesday that they trained, she never wore the bracelet; in fact, she wore it every day but Tuesday.
When they had a break from training, she would hold onto the item, twisting the small bead on the metal band constantly, as a sort of habit.
Yet on Tuesdays, she would talk to him; he had never before thought this was strange due to his previous lack of interactions with others, yet now he truly realized that this person, no, this being was in fact not selen.
It was never selen.
"What the fuck is that thing!"
Solaris shouted in pure terror.
Prior to this moment, he had never believed he could be more terrified than that day near the tree, when he first entered this world of demon hunting; now, that day seemed like a walk in the park.
This was something he had spent days, months with; it knew so much about him, his strengths, or rather lack thereof, and his weaknesses.
This means that no matter what this being is, it will have no trouble at all killing him.
Solaris was breathing heavily as the realization struck him, and he began to crawl backwards from the approaching creature. Sami had never mentioned a being that can shapeshift, which only added to the terror permeating his body.
Seeing the boy move back, the selen creatures' smiles faded before stopping, then her mouth opened.
"Why? Don't you love me, Sol? as much as I love you."
Her eyes softened as if she had been betrayed.
"..s..selen...she would never say that! What the hell are you!"
Solaris screamed, pointing his right arm at the being before him.
"...so you finally figured it out."
Her face contorted into a terrifying, inhuman smile, her eyes began to bleed as her pupils grew, enveloping her eyes into a pure black form, her canines expanded, her tongue became pointed and much longer, and the rest of the girl's figure followed as the delicate, pretty girl soon disappeared and only a monster remained.
The creature stood much taller, with two arms ending in nails that looked as if they could cut a diamond, its skin flooded with deep grey, it appeared as tough, if not tougher than the stone that the ruins were made of, her once slim athletic body was now that of a bodybuilder, muscles rolling under the adamantine skin.
The imposing threat bore an aura of death.
Solaris was locked on the face of the demon that still resembled the once beautiful girl.
This sight slightly terrified him, but more than that, it absolutely enraged him.
Adrenaline surged through Solaris's body, standing up in his eyes, enveloped by pure rage, he shouted at the threat.
"I WILL KILL YOU!"
Grabbing the sword, he charged at the demon.
Raising her arm as he grew near, she swatted to hit him, yet all she hit was air.
Solais's body emanated with a faint but noticeable heat. Dodging the attack, he swung the blade, using a lack of understanding to his advantage. He brought the blade down, and as he did, he slipped, twisting his body, and the blade began to approach the demon's ribs.
It was a desperate move, and yet it didn't pay off.
The demon simply brought its left arm down into Solaris's rib, sending him to the ground before the blade could reach her.
As he grew even closer to the dirt, a sudden pain enveloped his chest as the leg of the demon collided with him, sending him flying.
He flew across the area where Solais had been training and collided with a pillar from the ruins.
Solaris spat blood up as he lay on the ground. His ribs were almost shattered; he had no idea why they weren't dust, but at this very moment, he was relieved. His vision was fading as he pushed himself up, eventually reaching his footing. He gripped the blade, which he somehow still held in his hand.
The collision gave him a concussion, and his chest felt as if it were on fire, but he still assumed a battle stance.
These last few months were not for nothing; he was going to kill this demon.
He wasn't going to use the being residing within him; he alone was going to win this fight.
Seeing Solaris was still alive, the demon began to approach him once more before seeming to appear inches before his sight, swinging its fist into Solaris, yet at the last second Solaris moved the blade in his arm and blocked the attack.
He may not know how to attack, but Solaris had still trained for a number of weeks to defend, and this was something, in fact, the first thing he had excelled at.
Solaris twisted his head, meeting the deep black eyes of the demon whose attack he had just blocked. Moving the blade, he tossed the hand of the demon to the side, and letting one arm off the hilt, his hand collapsed into a fist and simultaneously collided with the demon's body.
It was as if Solaris had just punched a building.
Looking at his arm, the demon could see that it had barely done any damage; however, a few seconds later, the demon felt something puncture his abdomen where Solaris had hit him.
Solaris felt something move beneath his skin as if a snake was under it, sliding just below the surface of his right arm.
The mysterious tattoo Solais had on his arm changed.